There's a battle brewing in the South China Sea. Ownership of territory near the Paracel Islands is disputed, and after China moved an oil drilling rig into the area, Vietnam sent ships to investigate.

The Chinese rammed the Vietnamese crafts and shot them with water cannons, but this fight is a lot bigger than one Chinese oil rig.

"It involves not just China and Vietnam, but also Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia," says Taylor Fravel, a professor of political science at MIT. Fravel notes that border disputes in the area have been going on for decades and this is China's way of trying to demonstrate its claim to the territory.

"China is desperate for domestic sources of energy," says Ernie Bower, senior adviser for Southeast Asia Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.